DAVID ZICK

Title: President, Group Associates Website:www.groupassociates.comHeadquarters: Bingham Farms Age: 62 Education: Undergraduate degree from University of Michigan-Flint; graduate degree Michigan State University. Professional designations: Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant, Registered Health Underwriter, all from The American College Family: Married for 40 years, one daughter and three grandchildren Hobbies: Golf, bicycling, reading.

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David G. Zick, founder and president of Group Associates in Bingham Farms, sees room for his company to grow as his business clients work to implement the new health care law.

“There are a lot of new regulations employers have to follow as part of the Affordable Care Act and they’re complicated and you have to document the things you do,” said Zick, whose company offers consulting and benefits administration.

“It provides us much more opportunity to help more clients.”

Zick, who founded the company in 1986, started out as a high school teacher in Flint. He taught physics. But he switched to a new career in insurance because he didn't like the lack of stability in teaching — a situation in which he often didn’t know if he'd have a job until a few days before the school year started.

Now, Group Associates has about 100 employees and many clients based in Michigan. Some of its major clients have employees all over the country. The company prospered due to the trend of outsourcing benefits administration.

“We take care of making sure people get their enrollment material,” Zick said.

The company’s philosophy emphasizes giving back to the community. Every Friday, employees can wear jeans if they make a $3 charity donation. When $1,000 is collected, Group Associates gives it to charities the employees nominate.

The company hired 13 people last year and plans to hire at least five more this year. Operations include a call center where employees answer questions during enrollment season.

Zick said one of the competitive advantages of his company is its proprietary computer system.

“We can adapt our system to what our client needs,” Zick said.

Group Associates does not handle 401(k) retirement plans. Its focus as third-party administrator of benefit plan design and implementation is medical, dental, life, disability, vision and voluntary products for which the employees sign up and pay the entire cost of a given benefit, such as Aflac supplemental insurance coverage. As employers offer high-deductible insurance plans, some employees want to buy a policy for extra coverage, he said.

Zick said employers will need more record keeping under the Affordable Care Act, such as proof that employees received the proper required notices.

“We keep their payroll records and we can say here's this history of the hours worked,” Zick said.

As regulations become more complex, employers are turning to outside help, he said. That's particularly true of a smaller company that might not want to hire a person just to track regulatory issues relating to health care.

“We stay on top of all the regulations but we can spread that cost across all our clients,” Zick said.

While the U.S. economy is picking up, he said, employers want to operate more efficiently and companies continue to re-allocate resources and turn to outsourcing for benefits.

“If my business is to make cardboard boxes, that’s where I want to focus my energy, making cardboard boxes.”